1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to surfboards and attachments to the deck of surfboards.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Until the seventies, surfers surfed on boards called long boards, that are more stable and less manoeuvrable than modern boards, called short bards. On long boards, moving around on the board was critical to controlling the board. Because of the board size, one had to step up and down the board, and somewhat to the side, to produce a shift of weight large enough to make the board turn. Moreover, manoeuvres with these long boards had much less angle, especially vertically, that manoeuvres with modern, boards.
In 1970 surfing underwent what is called "the short board revolution". Surfers discovered that shorter boards could be turned easier and faster. Since then, many have sought over this concept, and adapted to shorter, thinner, narrower boards. Further improvements in fin size and placement (the "twin-fin", in 1980, and the tri-fin "thruster", in 1985) have led to the modern short board era.
Along with the increase in manoeuvers on the waves, the surfers have experienced a need for increased traction. This need was met by the invention of what is called the foot pad. The foot pad is used mostly for the back foot, although several brands also offer a front foot pad, never independently, but in addition to the back foot pad. The reasons for this are that (1) the back foot tends to slip more easily off the board, especially during the take-off, and (2) most turns, and hence, manoeuvres, are done by pivoting around the base of the board, because the surfer's weight is mostly on his back foot. Pat. No. 5529523, 5435765, and 5308271 present examples of foot pads.
In conjunction to the transition from long boards to short boards, good surfing has been more and more equated with a low, squatting stance. A low stance provides more static stability (given the same base it takes a bigger perturbation to throw off a surfer whose centre of gravity is lower). It also allows one to stand up, pushing the board down harder against the water, which gives better control at high speed during a manoeuvre. Finally, the ability to go back and forth from a high stance to a squatting stance is crucial for "pumping" the wave, which is a shuffling of the board up and down the face capturing much more of the wave's energy than just staying in trim.
Another consequence of the short board revolution is that board control has been equated more and more by angling the foot rather than moving on the board. This is because the ratio of the surfer's weight to the wet area of the board, and to the inertia momentums of the board are much higher on a short board than on a long board. Consequently, the surfer no longer needs to move his feet to shift his weight significantly. He only has to press down his heels or his toes to control the roll, and to move his weight from one foot to the other to control the pitch.
In summary, modern surfing requires a low stance, and necessitates control over the rotation around the longitudinal axis of the surfboard (roll). Some of this control can be achieved by moving the body weight dynamically, but most of the finer control comes from angling the feet with respect to the legs by flexing or extending one's ankles.
However, this kind of control is not symmetrical, because the flexibility of the ankle usually allows much more extension (pointing the toes down) than flexion (lifting the toes). This asymmetry becomes even more critical when the surfer is lowering his body, as the balanced posture with a low centre of gravity involves an ankle even more flexed.
Most performant surfers solve this problem by "tucking in the knee", that is, by flexing forward the back leg so that the back knee is pushed forward as much as possible. This movement is very bad physiologically, as it strains the knee join, trying to bend it along a degree of freedom that the join does not possess. In addition, this movement is only partially efficient, and low-squatting surfers can hardly flex their ankles.
No attempt of compensating for this problem has ever been made in the surfing community prior to the present invention:
Presently, surfboards have, if not a flat deck, a deck which falls off symmetrically from the longitudinal midline of the board. They are designed so that if the board is laid on a flat horizontal surface, there is substantially no slope across the longitudinal midline (that is, usually, across the stringer).
Foot pads commonly used by present surfers are as much as possible symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal midline, with minor exceptions of design which do not modify the symmetry of the slope with respect to the midline, and intend not to. Many foot pads feature with a central arch for comfort, or a raised footstop at the back of the pad, but this does not break the symmetry around the longitudinal midline. Some foot pads come in several pieces, and include symmetrical central pieces, plus pieces which are mirror-images of each other and are placed on the deck of the board symmetrically around the stringer. The sole surface often features stripes or bumps, which are local variations in pad thickness. Although these stripes or bumps are not necessarily symmetrical with respect to the midline, their small scale makes them a texture and, when stepped on, they introduce no substantial deviation from the horizontal. Surfers do not either put other attachments between the deck of the board and the pad. In summary, before and up to the present invention, the foot pad is designed and used in the surfing community as a means of improving traction, but never to raise one's heels over one's toes.
Wax covers the surfboards in a thin layer or in little mounts called "wax bumps". Wax is applied as uniformly as possible, and in the case of making wax bumps, they are spread uniformly over the areas where the feet will rest, thus introducing no lateral slant or step to the deck.
A list of several patents relevant for the background is given below in Table 1. As illustrated in that table, there are many variations in foot pad shape, but none of them considers a change in height that would be asymmetrical with respect to the longitudinal midline. Planar symmetry with respect to the stringer is an implicit rule of board design, broken very rarely and then only in the outline of the board, not in its thickness. Indeed common sense dictates that good balance is more easily achieved on a horizontal surface. Since the coming of age of the short board (1969), good surfing has been more and more equated with a low, squatting stance, and board control has been equated more and more by angling the foot rather than moving on the board. The fact that the constraints of squatting low on a board make a non-horizontal support surface better for balance has eluded the attention of the whole surfing community for now twenty-eight years. Moreover, in the surfing community, the foot pad has always been conceived as a traction device and never had the role of an ergonomic balance improver.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ a list of relevant patents (from the Official Gazette) Patent Number Patent Title Our Comment ______________________________________ 5529523 Foot brace and "Standard" traction pad, symmetrical leveraged turning with respect to the longitudinal apparatus for midline, especially in height. surfboards 5484312 Surfboard foot A foot piece to wrap over the foot. piece Does not lift the heel nor lower the toe. 5460558 Surfboard foot U-shaped piece that goes behind and saddle around the foot, not under it. 5454743 Free style The invention covers the means of surfboard with attachment of the foot pieces. The removable foot foot pieces described have no pieces asymmetry in height with respect to the longitudinal midline 5435765 Surfboard pad Symmetrical surfboard pad made of three pieces. The central piece is elevated symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal midline of the board, and fits in the arch of the foot for comfort and better traction. Nothing in this invention addresses the issue of raising the surfer's heel. 5385494 Foot brace and This patent covers a indenture in leveraged turning the board which is symmetrical with apparatus for respect to the longitudinal midline surfboards board. 5308271 Non-sip design pad Is made of a sheet of uniform for surfboard and thickness, except for possible bumps method or stripes uniformly distributed over the sheet. Cannot substantially raise the heel or lower the toe. 4840590 Surfboard traction a traction bar explicitly under the bar arches, not the heels, of the surfer's feet. 4466373 Foot loops for Other mean of traction than a foot surfboard pad. Nothing under the foot that could raise the heel. 4129911 Soft deck The deck is soft but shaped with surfboard symmetry with respect to the longitudinal midline. The softness would cause, if anything, the heels to sink lower than the toes. ______________________________________